Fitness family says goodbye

Ian Harris, former jazz dancer and longtime exercise instructor for the city, will retire to Palm Springs.Students of Ian Harris bade farewell Tuesday to their mentor, the “Crown Prince of Fitness.”

More than 60 students gathered in the Irvine Bowl to say goodbye to Harris, who retired after 16 years as a fitness instructor with the Laguna Beach Recreation Department. The students presented him with a golden crown and a scrapbook of memories and had a group picture taken.

Harris was much more than a fitness instructor to his students.

“He brought light to my mornings,” said Nancy Wade, a student for more than two years.

“Ian has been the hub of a network that kept people in touch -- he held theme parties, and he displayed the work of the artists in his classes, announced their shows and bought their work,” said Leslie Davis, a Harris student for 11 years.

Harris is retiring to the Palm Springs area, from which he has been commuting three days a week to conduct fitness classes that began in the early morning and ended in the evening. He said it was a difficult decision to leave the students he had come to consider his family.

“This is a really hard thing to do, and I am scared,” Harris said. “But my great Aunt Emma always said you never stop because you are afraid. And we will keep in touch somehow.”

Harris already has begun to volunteer at a home that provides temporary housing for families of critically ill patients at a desert hospital. He is also considering developing spa programs for the desert resorts.

“It’s a Y in the road,” said Harris, who shares his path with Ben, an English bulldog, Boston bull terriers Lola and Levi, four parrots and four tortoises.

Harris designed Recreation Department fitness programs for seniors, teaching older students how to recognize their bodies’ weaknesses and strengths and bring their bodies back into balance.

Both men and women attended Harris’ classes. And they stuck with it. Jacques Camus was a Harris student for 13 years, Mary Miller for 10 years

Harris named his method of teaching fitness for himself. He developed it after a career as a jazz dancer and studying kinesiology and anatomy, with plans to be a physical therapist.

“After learning about muscles, joints and bones, he came up with the ‘The Harris Method,’” said photojournalist Arline Issacs.

Many of Harris’ estimated 2,000 students came to him on the recommendation of medical professionals.

“My doctor said it was a good class,” said Jayamala Sargent, a Harris student for 10 years.

Her doctor is Gene Levine, who also attended the classes.

“He comes and he sent all of his patients here,” said the doctors’ wife, Vivian Levine. “We started before the fire, and we just kept coming.”

The Harris Method will continue to be taught by Leslie Davis, who has previously substituted for him. Winter classes will begin after the first of the year.

The winter Recreation Department brochure should be in Laguna mail boxes by Monday, when registration begins. Call (949) 497-0716.20051209ir5mg1knDON LEACH / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)Devoted student Mary Gene-Meagher bids farewell to Ian Harris, her longtime fitness coach, at the Irvine Bowl.